The Inaugural Express

Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for from the Obama administration. From the Associated Press:

President-elect Barack Obama will kick off his inaugural celebration on Jan. 17 — the weekend before his swearing in as the country’s 44th president — by traveling on a train to the nation’s capital.

He and his family will start their daylong journey with an event in Philadelphia before boarding the train and picking up Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family in Wilmington, Del. The president-elect and his group then will make a stop in Baltimore before making their way to Washington.

There’s going to be a warm nostalgia about a president-elect traveling by train to Washington, D.C. (think Lincoln). But Obama should make a concerted effort to make this more about alternative traveling means to the automobile. While we’re at it, why not make it about alternative fuels and energy to keep our transportation system moving? The week leading up to the Inauguration, Obama take a tour of the country starting in California while riding in a hybrid bus (biodiesel is not preferred but acceptable). That would send a real message about the direction this country’s transportation should be heading.